Internal combustion engines provide a vital component in the generation of torque for use in powering other mechanical machines and systems. An internal combustion engine generally uses gasoline, diesel, natural gas, etc., as a fuel to develop power. Conventional internal combustion engines operate with four cycles, namely an intake cycle, a compression cycle, a power cycle and an exhaust cycle. With this type of engine, a connecting rod has connected at one end thereof a piston that reciprocates in a cylinder. The other end of the connecting rod is connected to a crankshaft that rotates as the piston(s) reciprocate. The crankshaft is connected to a flywheel that maintains the rotary momentum of the engine.
During the intake cycle or stroke of the internal combustion engine, the piston moves downwardly in the cylinder to pull in the fuel mixture through an open intake valve. The crankshaft rotates so that the piston is moved upwardly during the compression cycle to compress the fuel mixture in the cylinder, with the intake and exhaust valves closed. The power cycle is carried out next as the ignition of the compressed fuel mixture by a spark plug causes the fuel to burn and expand. The expanding gasses of the burned fuel mixture cause the piston to move downwardly in the cylinder, during the power cycle. The next cycle is the exhaust cycle where the rotating crankshaft drives the piston upwardly while the exhaust valve is open to force the spent gasses out of the engine. Each of the four cycles is carried out during two revolutions of the crankshaft. The rotating crankshaft continues to rotate and carry out the four cycles again. This same sequence is carried out with internal combustion engines having one crankshaft and many connecting rods and pistons driven thereby. In multi-cylinder engines, each revolution of the crankshaft can involve various pistons that undergo a power cycle at the same time as other pistons are undergoing other cycles, thereby providing a smooth delivery of power to the crankshaft. Many one-cylinder engines are used on utility equipment, such as lawnmowers. Four-cylinder, six, eight, ten and twelve-cylinder engines are frequently used in automobiles to provide torque for driving the power train.
Other types of internal combustion engines are of the two-cycle type in which an intake, compression, power and exhaust stroke all occur in one revolution of the crankshaft. In this type of engine, while the crankshaft and flywheel carries the piston upwardly, the bottom side of the piston creates a vacuum in the crankcase and pulls fuel into the crankcase through an open intake port, and at the same time fuel in the combustion chamber is compressed. During this upward travel of the piston, an intake and compression cycle are carried out. A spark from a spark plug ignites the compressed fuel and drives the piston down during the power stroke. As the piston moves down in the cylinder, the fuel in the crankcase is compressed, and an exhaust port is opened. During the remainder of the down stroke of the piston, the fuel mixture in the crankcase escapes around the piston to the combustion chamber where the fuel mixture pushes the spent gases out of the exhaust port. Thus, during the downward travel of the piston, a power and exhaust cycle are carried out. As the crankshaft continues rotation to force the piston upwardly again, another intake and compression stroke are carried out.
Other variations of four cycle internal combustion engines includes the radial engine developed for high performance World War II aircraft. This type of engine is similar to the four-cycle engine described above, but differs in the manner in which the piston rods are connected to the crankshaft. The radial engine has cylinders arranged like spokes of a wheel around a crankshaft hub. The diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that operates with four cycles much like that described above, but ignites the diesel fuel mixture using compression to heat the fuel to the flash point, rather than using a spark plug.
The Wankel engine is an internal combustion engine, but does not utilize reciprocating pistons. Rather, the Wankle engine uses a rotating rotor that is triangular with bow-shaped sides. The rotor rotates in an oval-like epitrochoid-shaped housing to provide an intake location, a compression location, an ignition location and an exhaust location. The spaces of the four different locations change as the rotor rotates in the oval housing. For example, the volume between one bowed side of the triangular-shaped rotor and the housing decreases while being connected to the fuel mixture intake. Then, as the rotor continues to rotate, the captured fuel mixture is compressed as the volume decreases, and when finally compressed to the maximum extent the fuel mixture is ignited by a spark plug. Then, on further rotation of the rotor, the spent gasses are compressed in a volume that is coupled to an exhaust outlet of the engine. Each of the three sides of the triangular-shaped rotor operate together with the oval-shaped housing to effectively provide three cylinders.
A different type of internal combustion engine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,307. This engine is constructed with a toroid-shaped cylinder with spaced-apart pistons that revolve in the annular-shaped cylinder. The engine block or covers in which the toroid-shaped cylinder is formed is stationary. Two sets of pistons are connected together by respective crank systems so that the sets of pistons move in the toroid-shaped cylinder independently of each other. The crank systems comprise a complicated arrangement of sun gears, connecting rods and crankshafts. The pistons move in a stepwise manner around the cylinder, i.e., one set of pistons are momentarily stationary while the other set of pistons move to thereby draw in a fuel mixture and compress it in some chambers or exhaust the spent gasses out of an exhaust port via other chambers. The combustion of the compressed fuel mixture then moves the one set of pistons while the other piston set is held momentarily stationary by the crank system. The crank system is mechanically complicated, as is other parts of the engine. The engine does not disclose a lubrication system nor a spark system to ignite a fuel mixture, but rather depends on the compression of the fuel mixture to ignite the same, much like a diesel engine.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that a need exists for a rotating combustion chamber type of engine that is less complicated and more easily constructed and thereby cost effective. Another need exists for an engine where the power producing components comprise two rotating rotors with interleaved pistons. A further need exists for a rotating combustion chamber engine that has a lubrication system that lubricates the rotating rotors, as well as a fuel delivery system that provides a fuel mixture to those rotating chambers that are carrying out an intake cycle. Yet another need exists for a rotating combustion engine that efficiently uses one-way bearings or other one-way rotation mechanisms to accomplish the stepwise rotational movement of the rotors.